When you hear the stunted, semi-grunting way many speak – and write! – these days, the language of a book such as The Elements of Style seems to come from a different planet. What’s the point of clarifying the correct usage of “which’ and “that” when someone can’t utter a sentence that doesn’t have f**k in it? And I am not being overly fussy. My formal knowledge of grammar is as rudimentary as many people’s and I don’t worry much about rules – so long as I can make clear what it is I’m trying to communicate. And I’d suggest that dumbing down the language does not make anyone more expressive or articulate. Exactly the opposite. Language is a wonderful achievement of humankind. Words are the building blocks of society – there can’t be society if people can’t communicate. To hear or to read someone using any language well can be sheer delight. It’s the difference between a maestro on the violin, an amateur player and a hacker. If you want to improve your skills with language, it helps to have formal training, and William Shrunk Jr.’s classic book has served millions of people since it was first published in 1918. Continue Reading »
* What the f**k! – classic guidance to improve your writing
Jul 25th, 2010 by Dennison
* Salutory reading for anyone who doubts the official cheerleading on the economy.
Jul 18th, 2010 by Dennison
Why The Greater Depression Still Lies Ahead
By Michael Pento
July 01, 2010 “Forbes” — If policymakers do not understand the real cause of a problem, they will in all likelihood be unable to provide a genuine solution.
Messrs. Barack Obama, Benjamin Bernanke and Timothy Geithner do not understand the real cause of this debt crisis. They are politicians first and economists or students of the market second–if at all. Therefore, it is not wise to count on them to tell us when the Great Recession is over, or to provide a plan to prevent another one in the future.
The cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s, and the Great Recession beginning in 2007, was one and the same: an overleveraged economy. Excessive debt levels are the direct result of the central bank providing artificially low interest rates and of superfluous lending on the part of commercial banks. Continue Reading »
* There’s a Hole in the Bottom of My Boat
Jul 1st, 2010 by Dennison
Just minutes before covering the hull of Kuan Yin with three layers of anti-foul paint (to discourage barnacles and marine growth), I was making a last minute inspection when I discovered a small spot of rust that I hadn’t noticed before. All the other spots I’d ground off and coated with two layers of special high-built steel primer paint. The grinder was put away, the anti-foul was ready to apply. It was the afternoon and a perfect day for getting this job done before the boat could go back in the water.
Through all the refitting of Kuan Yin over the last two summers, I’ve always tried to apply the highest standards that I’m capable of achieving. Sloppy work always has to be redone and costs more in time and money in the end, in my experience. But I have to admit I was tempted just to let this one little touch of rust go – paint over for another season and attack it next spring.
However, I got out the grinder, brought the power line and started to work. Imagine my horror less than a couple of minutes later when I discovered a HOLE in the hull of my steel boat. Half a screwdriver disappeared! Continue Reading »
* Sailboat of dreams (10) – “Hanna” of Australia
Jun 22nd, 2010 by Dennison
Another “bulletproof” sailboat of dreams. This Tahitiana was built in 1984 and was listed for sale in Buddina, Queensland, Australia in January 2010. See the photo gallery. Continue Reading »
* Who Betrayed Anne Frank – the fascinating story of Joop
Jun 17th, 2010 by Dennison
If you know the story of Anne Frank – the Dutch Jewish girl who kept a diary of her life in hiding in an attic in Amsterdam during the Second World War – you may well have wondered how the Franks were discovered by the German Gestapo just months before the Dutch capital was liberated by the Allies.
In Amsterdam some years ago, when I toured the Anne Frank museum I left the cramped rooms asking myself the same questions millions of other visitors must have been asking – WHO betrayed the Frank family? It has been one of the unanswered questions of the Second World War and deeply intriguing to anyone who has read Anne’s extraordinary record of her “internment”.
This would make a great subject for a novel, I told myself with a gush of enthusiasm. I went for coffee, quickly wrote a few notes and consigned the idea to the back of my mind for deeper deliberation. I was busy and promised myself that I’d pursue the story later. Years passed. Continue Reading »
* Food rules – making sense and having fun eating food that’s good for us.
Jun 10th, 2010 by Dennison
Journalist Michael Pollan has written three books on food. His newest (published in paperback in December 2009) is called “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual”. It’s a list of guidelines about food – real food, how to identify it and know what is not food, but what Pollan calls “edible food-like substances”?
How conscious are you about what you’re putting in your mouth? What ideas do you have about what’s good for you and what’s not? Where do those ideas come from? “The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people,” Pollan has said. “The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world.”
“The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen,” he said. “The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves — the Western diet — is the one that makes us sick.”
Pollan says everything he’s learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Continue Reading »
* Sailboat of dreams (12) – “Kuan Yin” of Owen Sound, Canada
Jun 2nd, 2010 by Dennison
This is my own boat, bought four years ago, and she is now almost completely refitted and ready for her voyage to Labrador and Ungava Bay. I bought the boat in Penetanguishene, in Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, Ontario, from David Perry, a master sailor and schoolteacher. He’d sailed “Barbarick” (as she was known at that time) to the Caribbean and back and it was his wish to sell the boat to someone who would take her out to do what the Tahitiana sailboat does best – go steadily and safely – but not so swiftly – to destinations far away. And I felt privliged to be able to buy her from David. Sadly, he died of liver cancer shortly after selling the boat. See the photo gallery. Continue Reading »
* Conquest and culture – why one nation can overcome another
May 28th, 2010 by Dennison
If you ever wonder what role culture plays in the fortunes of nations, here’s an exhaustively researched book exploring culture and conquest. Why are certain nations and cultures open to conquest while others are able to resist? What role does conquest play in spreading technology, literacy and economic practices, for example? Thomas Sowell has written a fascinating book on the subject. It’s not a quick or an easy read. He clashes head on with many “politically correct” theories but always presents facts to back up his arguments. This is a solid piece of research, cogently argued and an engrossing read if the interplay of cultures interests you. Continue Reading »
* Sailboat of dreams (7) – Wisp of Tasmania, Australia
May 24th, 2010 by Dennison
The sight of a boat under full sail still thrills me. Take a look at this one of Wisp. See the photo gallery. Continue Reading »
"Serendipity" is the art of finding something valuable or delightful when you're not looking for it. It's how you might also define living life as an adventure - which is something I seek to do everyday - and accepting whatever happens.Browse My Books
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Recent Posts
- * What the f**k! – classic guidance to improve your writing
- * Salutory reading for anyone who doubts the official cheerleading on the economy.
- * All’s Well That Ends Well – holes in the hull repaired
- * There’s a Hole in the Bottom of My Boat
- * Sailboat of dreams (10) – “Hanna” of Australia
- * Who Betrayed Anne Frank – the fascinating story of Joop
- * Food rules – making sense and having fun eating food that’s good for us.
- * Sailboat of dreams (12) – “Kuan Yin” of Owen Sound, Canada
- * Conquest and culture – why one nation can overcome another
- * Sailboat of dreams (7) – Wisp of Tasmania, Australia
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